Draft-gear.



I. @.WRIGET:

'u AUG. 14; 1912! Paten'e Nov. 3, 19.14.

ignarrsn as rarrinr rita oavrtiiii Wnienr, or netart/ione, waarheen'.-

DRAFT-GEAR.

arianne.

To all whom may 0051.621311 y Be it known that im RviLLn Winer-rr, acitizen'- of the United States of America,

'residing at theoityof Baltimore, State of.

Maryland, have invented certain new' and usefnl Improvements inDraft-Gears, of

which the following is a specification.

vided into tivo classes, those having three keys, the rear key acting asa .rear stop in buiiingfi. eg, in Whiiihthe vrear key' .serves .totransmit to the draft beams the thrust an,

.plied to the shock-absorbing inembe'r in butng, and those in Whichthere 4are tivo keys only, the rear stop bei-ng. inthe form of astationary member which transmits to the frame the thrust applied .tothe shookabsorbing member hailing. In some in-` stances, the rear arm ofthe yoke bears against this rear stop and transmits vthe boilingpressure to the stop.` Iii-the production of these draft gears the-rearstop to which l have referred, and likewise the third key, which in thethree key draft gear takes its place, With thebearing .therefor in thecheck plate, are supplied vatan expense Whieh'is" a Considerableproportion of the cost of the Whole draft gear, and they object of the'present invention is to providea draft gear which shall haveneitherthetliird key, nor the rear stop to which l have referred,

and Which is therefore capable of lbeing prog duced at a oost much lessthan that of either of the regular two or three key types.

VThe device of my invention, in its pre. ferred forni, Consists of a`draft gear having a-voke and the usual shook-absorbingdevice,. themotion of the yoke relatively tothe draft beams being limited so thatthe -yoke .is

placedl under tension both in bufling and drawing, and in both instancesreceives-"andtransmits the stress applied to the' yielding orshook-absorbing member. n

In the preferred for-m of -niy'inventioii7 i use as a means for limitingthe motion of the yoke, a stationary key which in effect serves both asa front and as a rear stop Specieation-oz" Letters Patent.

. rear slots .3.

whereby the usual third .key and rearfstopf are eliminated, but itiswithin the scope of, my inventi'on to. employ other means to this ln.the accompanying (thawing ll 4have end.

.illustrated adra'ft gear embodying thedfffea' 'tures of my invention intheir preferred forni. Figure l is a "View, half in horizontal seetionand half in top plan. 2 'isa een trai.; vertical? section.

Asfsliowin the device consists of draft.

beams 1 having-elongated fronts'lots- '2 and slots a key 5 's'liioh'fitsthesliits and is stationary. Beni-Een ,the draft beams 1's' a yoke 6having an elongated'slot .i to receivethe Ifront key and an elongated:slot for*- tlie rear key. The length 'of tlielfrontf slots in the yokeand their position relatively yto the' rearslots. and theooi-responding-gslots in the 4draft beams is such that-'the arms of theyoke cannot be placed. nifider compres` sion. front end is the draivshar9 slot'ted'at l0 to receive the forward key the' rear fkey 5 is afollower 1l -which: isp'rof vided with 'anelongated slot-l2 toreoeivethe key, th'e follower'.liavingsuiicie-nt lay relatively to 'the keyvtoperni-it the. bu iig lnthe frontslots is a key a. mounted toslide-therein, and .in the-'rear- SGT Between the arms ot' theyokeat'the stress to be transmitted thereby .from the.

draiv--bar tothe shoek-absorbing-member 13 vwhich-may lie/placedWi-thinthe yoke. taking a .bearing at'its frontend at Mon the-.folf

lower and at its, rear end-ontlie rear arm 15 of the yoke or on thefiller plate '16 seated on. the reararni of the yoke. StrapsU-ant' 18support -and hold the yoke aiidfresilient member 13 in place. The yokeas..slio.ivn. is unsupported from the rear, and'its motion is limited bythe key 5.' In' the normal .par y sition of the yoke, tlie'- fronteiids'of the slots .S bear against tliefron't face of the key At thesame time the rear end ofthe ufol.-

vlower `slot bears-against the rear face of the key 5, the front face'of the follower engages the rear end of the drawbar, and-the front keyi's'in the eenter; of slots 2 in the beams.V This position of 'the4parts is maintained bythe spring under Condition no stress.

The operation-of thedeviee, ivhentension' is applied to the draw-ban;will he easily understood. The tension isfooniinuiiioa'ted by 'thefrontkey .l directly .tothe yoke and.

, stress to the follower l1, and thencefto the -by the yoke, throughits, rear arm 15 andplate 16, to the 'spring or shock-absorbing member13 which transmits 'the drawing Y pression stress in the draw-bar isapplied directly ,to the follower 11. 'lt is transmitted thereby to thespring ,or shock-absorbing member 1B, and thence to' the reararm 15 ot'the yoke. As'the yoke isV unsupported "from therearQthat is,'as thereisno rear stop on the frame, and normally, e., in condition of nostress, the front ends of the'slots, 8 in the yoke bear against thekfront edge of the key 5 so the yoke cannot move to the rear from normalposition, the buihng pressure 'applied to the yoke sets up atensionstress inthe yoke, and this stress is transmitted directly tothe key 5,and hence to the trame of the car. Thus the key 5 limits the movementof. the yoke and serves as a ,front and ear'stop so that the usual rearstop or third yA is dispensed Withand the draift gear is v ,.ateriallyehea-pened.' y

,"It will be apparent that Within the scope of my invention variousother means may beutili'zed or'limiting the motion of the -,-yokeso'that it .is-placed under tension both in' drawing and in .builing andthe rear stop becomes unnecessary.

-liaye-described specifically a single ein-- bodiment of my invention inorder that its nat-ure and operation may be clearly' understood.However-,the specific terms herein are used in their descriptive ratherthan'in their limiting senseA and the 'scopeof the inventionr is definedinthe claim.

I claiml In a draft gear,` in combination, a fixed key,.'a yoke slottedto receive the key and mounted to move forwardly and heid fromrearward,movement by said key, a resilient memberivithin the yokebetween said keyl and the rear end of said yoke, and means for. applyingboth drawing and butling stresses .to the yoke whereby such stresses aretransmitted to the iiXed key sol the single xed key acts as a iront andrear stop.

Signed by ine at Baltimore,v Maryland, this 12th day of August, 1912.

IRA ORVILLE XVRGH'I. lVitnesses :l

" lV. G.l HOFFMAN, Jr..

EDWARD L. Basi-i.

